Here are the questions we are most frequently asked by risk management professionals looking to develop their careers, along with the general answers we give. If you have a question which is not answered below, please call Matt Brown mb@barclaysimpson.com, Dean Spencer ds@barclaysimpson.com, Peter Whyte pwh@barclaysimpson.com or Antony Berou ab@barclaysimpson.com on 020 7936 2601.
General questions
- Do I have to stay with an employer for at least 2 years?
- Should a CV never be longer than 2 pages?
- Will a future employer offer a study package?
- Will a new employer provide a relocation package?
- Should I tell my existing employer that I am looking for a new position?
- How much can I increase my salary by changing job?
- Is lying on my CV a significant risk?
- Should I give up my permanent job and do contract work while I am looking for a new position?
Specific questions
- Can I get into risk management without any experience?
- What kind of qualifications will help me in risk management?
- How do I get into management?
- Is the risk management market sexist?
- Is it worth completing an MBA?
- Should I consider working for a Big 4 firm?
- How can I work abroad?
1. Do I have to stay with an employer for at least 2 years?
There seems to be a common misapprehension that if you stay less than 2 years with an employer it will reflect badly on you in a future selection process. Arbitrary time limits should not be applied to any decision as to when to look for another position. If, after 3 months you are totally convinced you have made the wrong move and you have legitimate justification, then it is unlikely that a future employer will discriminate against you. Everyone is entitled to make a mistake. What is important is that you CV does not reflect a pattern of only staying with employers for a short period of time – you need to be able to demonstrate commitment. A pattern of frequent moves will begin to affect your credibility in the recruitment market. You can make one but not three mistakes.
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2. Should a CV never be longer than 2 pages?
People often seem to think that a CV should never be longer than 2 pages. However, a CV should be whatever length it needs to be to efficiently and effectively describe your life and career to date. The older and more experienced you are the more there is to tell. As a general rule a CV should not be longer than 3 pages and anyone reading your CV should be able, within 2 or 3 minutes, to have a clear idea of your background and experience. Nobody wants to read anything longer. In fact, providing a CV that is either too long or one that is too short and fails to address obvious issues, will result in a question mark about your judgement. Is this the way you write risk reports?
It is also inappropriate to include with your CV copies of certificates, staff appraisals, job specifications and references from previous employers. These only add to the amount of paper and can distract the person reading your CV. Guidance on CV preparation is available under the Creating a strong CV section.
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3. Will a future employer offer a study package?
Most companies and public sector organisations will support study towards a relevant professional qualification. The question is to what extent? You can usually expect the financial costs of a first sitting to be met and the examination days given as study leave. Many risk management departments will additionally give up to 1 or 2 days around the times of exams and very occasionally more. However, it is crucial that the study must is seen as relevant to the department’s needs, such as say a Six Sigma qualification, Masters Degree in a risk related field or perhaps a CFA.
Study packages are often highly negotiable and it is important to formally agree an entitlement before accepting a new position.
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4. Will a new employer provide a relocation package?
The majority of companies are prepared to pay relocation expenses, though are more likely to do so for senior rather than junior positions and it should not be taken for granted. To best understand the company’s position, imagine you are a Chief Risk Officer, selecting from two otherwise equal risk managers, one of whom does not need to relocate. Relocation will then have an impact on the decision. Essentially companies will only pay relocation if they feel they need to. The more marketable you are as a risk manager in terms of skills, experience and qualifications, the more likely a company is to pay relocation.
Generally a relocation package will pay all the direct costs such as estate agent and legal fees, removal expenses and stamp duty. Normally it will also include a period during which temporary accommodation will be paid. More comprehensive packages may include disturbance allowances of either a fixed amount or a percentage of your salary. Totally comprehensive packages, although uncommon, will provide you with a guaranteed price for selling your home.
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5. Should I tell my existing employer that I am looking for a new position?
Generally, the fewer people who know you are looking for another job the better. Whilst telling your existing employer that you are looking for a new position may make it easier to take time off to attend interviews, there are a number of disadvantages.
First, you will most likely be excluded from any future career progression. For example, whilst you are looking there may be developments within your existing department that would otherwise have been advantageous to you.
Secondly, you do not know how long it is going to take to find another position. Having made your announcement it will be rather embarrassing it you have still not found a position 6 months later. The danger is that you will feel pressurised into accepting a position that you would have otherwise not considered.
Finally, you may start to feel isolated. If your manager believes that you will be leaving shortly, there is probably little incentive to keep you as an integral part of the team.
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6. How much can I increase my salary by changing job?
Most potential employers will make an offer that they believe is fair. They will almost invariably look at your existing salary and make an offer based on that. Generally, an increase will be in the order of 10 to 15% in total package terms. However, if you have a reason why your salary is particularly low or have skills and experience that are in short supply, then it is possible to get more. If a company makes an offer which you believe it is too low, you can attempt to negotiate the offer up. Before you do so, make sure your reasoning is clear. Many companies will increase an initial offer if they can see a justification. Obviously your bargaining position will be strengthened by having another offer at a higher salary. If that is the case, be careful you do not end up accepting a position that you do not really want, just because it has the highest salary.
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7. Is lying on my CV a significant risk?
There are essentially two types of lies that are contained in CV’s. First are matters of verifiable fact. Your age, qualifications, the periods of time you spent working for previous employers and your job titles. Outside of taking up references from your previous employers, very little other formal verification is made of your CV. However, if your employer discovers that you obtained a position on the basis of a CV that contains a material misrepresentation of a verifiable matter of fact, you will almost certainly be summarily dismissed and possibly prosecuted. It is a risk and cannot be encouraged.
The second type of lie, and by far the more common, is the embellishment and exaggeration of professional experience. Such representations are intangible and therefore less risky to make. Formally you may not have been a manager. On your CV, this does not stop you describing all kinds of responsibilities and achievements that belie a rather more modest job title. As a candidate in a selection interview you may embarrass yourself or, more problematically, be offered and accept a position that is beyond your capabilities. The former is quite common, the latter quite rare.
Many companies are now relying less on assertions made on a CV’s and far more on their own objective based selection processes. These involve applicants demonstrating the skills and experience they describe on their CV’s and make any misrepresentations rather more problematical.
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8. Should I give up my permanent job and do contract work while I am looking for a new position?
Unless there are some compelling circumstances that make it impossible to look for a new position or your personal circumstances are such that you can afford to take the risk, it is generally unwise to give up a permanent position. The contract market may be quite buoyant, however it is rarely possible to be entirely certain how quickly you can secure a contract position and what the rate of pay will be. Furthermore, potential permanent employers may be put off by the fact that you have resigned one position without having another to go to.
However, if you are confident of persuading a potential employer of the rational of your decision, the advantage is that you will be able to attend interviews more easily and a new employer will not have to wait for you to complete a notice period.
Before you make such a decision you should seek advice, given your background and experience, on the availability of contract work and how long it may take to secure a permanent position.
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9. Can I get into risk management without any experience?
If you wish to transfer into risk management your best opportunity is usually with your existing employer. If that is impossible your only other way is via the recruitment market, in which case you really need to have some tangible evidence demonstrating your interest and commitment. Try and ensure that you get whatever experience is available with your existing employer. Talk to risk managers and read up on the subject, gain as much knowledge as possible. Even better, sit, if necessary at your own expense, either IRM or GARP examinations or undertake an academic course such as a diploma in risk management. If you are still reasonably young, have a good academic background and realistic salary expectations, provided you can demonstrate real commitment and some tangible evidence of your interest, it is quite possible to transfer into risk management via the recruitment market.
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10. What kind of qualifications will help me in risk management?
At this point in time, there are no industry standard risk management qualifications. However, there are many qualifications that are highly regarded: The Global Association of Risk Professionals, The Institute of Risk Management and The Professional Risk Managers International Association all provide recognized risk management qualifications. Other non-risk-specific qualifications, such as the CFA, Six Sigma, or and accountancy qualification can also be very useful.
It is worth pointing out that, unlike their close cousins in audit, the majority of operational risk managers will have several years experience in a control, audit or operations function before moving in to risk management, so undertaking accountancy qualifications, and perhaps following an audit career initially would be a useful route into operational risk.
As for Market and Credit Risk Management, the career path is a lot more trodden and usually the Banking Industry will be interested in graduates with a strong mathematical background, who will then join teams focused in these disciplines. Mathematical ability is seen as the driver for success in most cases, where the graduate will then serve a sort of apprenticeship with the market or credit risk team. Having a background in modelling is also very attractive to potential employers, so the understanding of and ability to program with Visual Basic or VBA and perhaps C++ will certainly help when looking for a role in the highly quantitative area of Market Risk.
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11. How do I get into management?
Most risk managers who achieve management positions are promoted internally. Rule number one is to work for a risk management department that allows for regular promotion into management positions. If you are working for a department and it is clear you are not going to get promoted, then look outside. If you are able to, choose a sector that you enjoy working in and then, as far as possible, stay in that sector. Most companies will at least prefer, and often require, their risk managers to have previous experience of their sector.
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12. Is the risk management recruitment market sexist?
Sexism, or more particularly discrimination against women, is not an issue in risk management recruitment. Although there is no statistical evidence, there is also very little anecdotal evidence that women who decide to make a long-term career in risk management are discriminated against. If they have the ability and ambition they can, like men, expect to be successful purely on the basis of merit. A good example of this is the fact that, at present, there is a relatively balanced number of both male and female Senior Risk Officers in the Banking and Financial Services industry sectors.
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13. Is it worth completing an MBA?
An MBA can certainly enhance your CV. However, it is rarely worthwhile giving up your job to pursue an MBA full-time. When recruiting, most Heads of Risk Management are primarily interested in a candidate’s academic results, their professional qualifications and, most importantly, their risk management experience. An MBA is rarely a significant factor in an internal audit recruitment decision. A Head of Risk is more likely to dwell on why you thought it necessary to give up your job and is unlikely to consider it a justification for offering you a demonstrably better job as a result of completing an MBA.
Most risk managers who complete an MBA continue working and do not disrupt the pattern of their careers. They complete them on a part-time basis. For risk managers who are already professionally qualified, an MBA will enhance their CV and most potential employers will regard it favourably. For those risk managers who are not professionally qualified, an MBA can at least partially fill an otherwise large hole on their CV.
An MBA can without doubt increase your confidence, improve your skills and make you a more marketable risk manager. An MBA however, regardless of what the sales literature from your chosen business school may say, cannot turns a pig’s ear into a silk purse.
If you are interested in exploring doing an MBA, there are an increasing number of academic institutions and associated business schools offering MBA courses and they tend to be flexible and customer focused. Go for the best name you can afford and the one that will allow you to study according to your desired work patterns. A copy of the ABS (Association of Business Schools) directory, will contain most of the information you will need.
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14. Should I consider working for a Big 4 firm?
Without doubt, the Big 4 and, to a lesser extent, their smaller rivals, offer excellent risk management experience across a range of sectors. In many respects, the Big 4 are at the leading edge of developments in risk management. If you are thinking of developing a career in risk, a period spent with a Big 4 firm will certainly make your CV appear more rounded.
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15. How can I work abroad?
Depending on your background and experience, it is quite feasible to work overseas. Most risk managers who work overseas do so by transferring with their existing employer. Therefore, finding a company that would initially employ you in the UK and then allow you to transfer to an overseas risk management department, can be a good way of achieving your goal. Furthermore, it can also provide you with the opportunity to transfer back to the UK without having the difficulty of returning to the UK without a job.
If this is not possible or desirable then the better qualified you are and the more marketable your skills, for example having good operational risk experience, the easier you will find it to secure a position.
There are good opportunities in the EU, as UK nationals have the right to work anywhere in the EU and risk management skills are in short supply in Europe. Whilst it is possible to secure a position without a European language, reasonable fluency will make it far easier.
In non-English speaking other parts of the world, such as South America and Asia, it is usually a requirement to speak the local language, but, if you do, your skills as a risk manager will generally make it possible to find work in those countries.
The old commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and including the United States share a common language and similar business environments, and are the most popular destinations. The Big 4 often have opportunities for risk managers to work in these locations and, if you have specialist skills, it is possible to get a company to sponsor you. If you are serious about working in one of these countries, you should either register with local recruitment consultancies or find some other way, such as the internet, of finding out what jobs are being advertised and might be open to a foreign national.
The Middle East countries, particularly if you have banking or oil industry experience, are reasonably easy to secure a position in. One of the attractions for risk managers used to be generous tax-free incomes, however the salaries are not as attractive as they once were.
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